On the Longer Runs...

So the long runs for my upcoming fifty miler are getting, well.... long.

Last weekend was a 4 hour run. For ultra training, I keep the watch running during food breaks and water refills.

While I had a slight desire to knock out a marathon in four hours, it wasn't quite to be for a few reasons:

A. I did a 3.5 hour run just a week ago.
B. It was 8 degrees out with a wind chill close to 0.
C. I'd done 8.5 miles only 18 hours prior

In the end, I managed 25.7 miles in 4 hours. I'd told myself that if I was within .3 of a marathon, I'd knock it out, but a half mile seems kind of far after 4 hours, so that was that.

Nutrition-wise, I had a peanut butter and nutella sandwich every hour, though the last one took me a while to eat. They were pretty frozen in my jacket pocket by the time I got them. I also sipped water and had 2 Endurolyte capsules per hour. I was currently between cgm sensor and my meter was too cold to operate, so I had to go by "feel," diabetes-wise, which worked out fine; I finished the run at 80.

After Recoverite and a short nap, the boy and I went to SCUBA class, which was great, but now today, I have a slight cold coming on. Hoping I can keep it mostly at bay, since I have a 4.5 hour run on Friday, and a trip to Italy next Monday - neither of which would be great with a stuffed head.

It's a little unnerving to be so tired after a 25 mile run when you're planning a 50, but I knew I wouldn't run this last one as smart as I should. The lure of the marathon training run proved to be too great; and I should've been a bit easier on myself, given the conditions. Oh well, I'll get another shot at it in 4 short days!

Learning to Eat

Sunny Blende (how's THAT for a name?) describes an ultra-marathon as “An eating and drinking contest, with a little exercise and scenery thrown in.” That being the case, my long runs of late have been all about learning to eat and run at the same time.

Over the past two weeks, I did one 18 miler and a 21 miler yesterday. That's not particularly impressive. In fact, when I tried to talk smack about it with my daughter yesterday, she said (in a way that only a 14 year old can), "Like you haven't done that before," decidedly unimpressed.

But what's different this time is how much food I'm eating. Previously on such runs, I'd take a gel or two and sip some Heed or Perpeteum, but the nutrition was there solely to accomplish the run at the pace I wanted to. NOW, consuming the food is one of the key points of the run.

At present, my "go to" food is a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. The bread makes good carbs, the peanut butter provides good protein and if I need to tell why I like Nutella, you simply haven't lived.

At any rate, I eat one sandwich just before I start, and another every hour after that. Yesterday's run was 3.5 hours, so I had 3 sandwiches - each about 250 calories. I also sip water the whole time.

To be honest, I think this is easier for a diabetic. We're used to eating when we don't want to because of low blood sugars and over the years, my stomach has learned to pretty much work all the time. So, so far, so good.

And finally, I leave you with a little video I made on Xtranormal just before the holidays about the "good" and "bad" kind of diabetes.